


man, fuck gatsby.

by sparley



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Angst, Bullying, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Fluff, High School, Irondad, M/M, Michelle Jones Is a Good Bro, Ned Leeds is a Good Bro, Peter Parker is a Mess, Protective Harley Keener, Supportive May Parker (Spider-Man), typical teenage shit
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-11
Updated: 2020-05-10
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:21:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24122053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sparley/pseuds/sparley
Summary: Keener had a smirk on his face, the pen held teasingly in front of himself. “Lose something, Princess Parker?”Peter rolled his eyes; “yes, Harley I did. Can I have it back?” He decided to play it civil, hoping he would just leave it for once.Of course he wouldn’t.
Relationships: Harley Keener & Peter Parker & Tony Stark, Harley Keener & Tony Stark, Harley Keener/Peter Parker, May Parker (Spider-Man) & Peter Parker, Michelle Jones & Peter Parker, Ned Leeds & Peter Parker, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 3
Kudos: 136





	man, fuck gatsby.

He shivers as he walks against the harsh autumn wind; clutching his backpack closer to himself and his layered school sweatshirt does little to block out the cold weeping through. 

He trudges up the dark stone steps, avoiding the half frozen cigarette butts that littered the ground. 

“Parker.” A cold, yet fond voice said from behind him. He jumped, and turned to see Michelle Jones, (MJ if he wanted to live) his best friend and most intimidating person  _ ever _ . 

Her poofy hair was only slightly tamed under a black beanie and a book that was bigger than Peter’s AP Physics textbook was snugly tucked under her arm. An old grey backpack was slung lazily off her shoulder. 

Beside her stood Ned Leeds, Peter’s other best friend and fellow Star Wars enthusiast; his cheeks were flushed, presumably from the cold and his red hoodie was zipped all the way up and the hood covered his ears. Wind-swept black pieces of hair still poked out. 

Peter grinned, MJ punching his shoulder affectionately as he and Ned did their not-so-secret handshake. . 

“I was worried for a second Parker, the wind could have blown your scrawny ass halfway to Brooklyn.” MJ snarked. Peter snorted, coming back at her instantly. “Well  _ some _ of us don’t have enormous books acting as an exaggerated paperweight.” MJ sniffed indignantly, but he didn’t miss the smirk on her face. 

The trio began their stroll down the hall, MJ complaining about how “ _ the president has a brain the size of a walnut, how have we not been nuked yet? _ ” Peter just laughed at his friend’s dramatics as Ned rolled his eyes retorting with a sarcastic “well  _ obviously _ Russia couldn’t let that happen. Duh.” MJ laughed humorlessly in agreement.

The bell rang, forcing the three friends to part ways. Peter began making his way toward the English wing for AP Lit. 

Peter liked his AP Lit class, he liked the books they’ve read so far; and the teacher might be a little quirky, but she made the class enjoyable with purposefully bad impressions and funny quips. 

The only bad part of the class was, quite possibly the most obnoxious person Peter had ever met: Harley Keener. (Flash Thompson was a  _ very  _ close second, but something about Keener irked him.)

Keener had transferred from his school in Tennessee to Midtown when he won a scholarship for building a piece of technology that could automatically recycle any piece of plastic it was given. 

At first he didn’t bother Peter, just kind of existing as a vague presence along the rest of their classmates; but then Peter made the mistake of correcting him in front of the class.

Now, not only is Peter referred to as _Penis Parker_ by Flash but now _Princess Parker_ has become apart of the annoying repitoré; along with teasing and throwing wads of paper at the back of his head. 

Peter slung his bag on the ground as he settled in his seat, reaching down, he pulled out  _ The Great Gatsby;  _ along with his pen and highlighter.

The book had multiple colorful sticky notes protruding from all sides and messy, hurried scrawl and partial words were seen on some of the ‘bookmarks’

Checking one last Snapchat from MJ before the bell rang, Peter twirled his pen between his fingers absentmindedly. As he was about to turn his phone off for class, the pen slipped between his fingers and skittered across the floor, gently tapping someone’s shoe as it rolled to a stop. 

Peter huffed in annoyance at himself, then again when he looked up at the person who had picked up the pen.

Keener had a smirk on his face, the pen held teasingly in front of himself. “Lose something, Princess Parker?” 

Peter rolled his eyes; “yes, Harley I did. Can I have it back?” He decided to play it civil, hoping he would just leave it for once. 

Of course he wouldn’t. 

“I dunno, Princess.  _ Can you _ ?” The smirk on his face grew wider. Peter clenched his fists, frustrated. “ _ May _ I have my pen back?” He corrected himself through gritted teeth. Harley  _ tsk _ ’d. 

“I thought a Princess was supposed to use her manners? How about a  _ please _ , sweetheart?” Harley asked in an infuriating faux innocence in his voice. 

Peter glared. “Keep it. I didn’t need it anyway.” He grumbled angrily, resolutely turning his head toward the front, ending the conversation. 

He pulled a new pen from his bag a little more forcefully than what may have been needed but  _ whatever _ . 

The bell rang, and their teacher, Mrs. Stacey; seemingly floated into the room, her bright, graying blonde hair was poofed out and her clothes flowing loosely from her arms and legs. She vaguely reminded Peter of Professor Trelawney from  _ Harry Potter _ . 

“Good morning!” She began, her soft spoken voice filling the room, nearly lulling Peter to sleep already. 

“We are now halfway finished with  _ The Great Gatsby _ , and since we are nearing the end of the first semester, I’ve decided that our Midterms will be a partner project!” She clapped her hands excitedly, grinning wildly. 

The class seemed to sit up a little more, suddenly more interested, but they quickly deflated again when Mrs. Stacey continued. 

“Now, I’ve already assigned the partners—“ She was cut off by a collective groan. 

The teacher huffed a laugh, continuing on. “The assignment will be to present the main characters in a new, modern form. Using the archetypes displayed so far to…  _ revamp _ , these characters into what they would be like in today’s society.” 

Peter tapped his knee in thought; the topic  _ was _ kind of interesting and if he was paired with Abraham or Harry then they could get it finished in an afternoon and make an easy ‘A’ on the final. 

“Partners may not be switched or changed. Are we ready?” Mrs. Stacey asked, looking down at her chart. 

“Betty and Grant.” Grant looked smug, winking at his new partner flirtatiously; and Betty rolled her eyes playfully, trying to fight the smile creeping onto her face. 

“Harry and Abraham.” Peter inwardly cursed while the two high-fived. 

“Peter and Harley.” Keener’s head snapped up so fast Peter almost worried that he would break his neck, the key word being  _ almost _ . 

Mrs. Stacey continued announcing the partners, but all Peter wanted to do was slide down his chair and allow the depths of Hell to swallow him. 

Keener refused to look at him for the rest of the period, and Peter didn’t know if he needed to be relieved or even more worried. 

————

Peter sighed dramatically into MJ’s shoulder. She ignored him in favor of reading through her copy of  _ The Reckless Mind _ . Ned gave him a sympathetic look from across the table. 

“Maybe now that you’re partners he’ll start being nicer?” Ned offered weakly between bites of his sandwich and Peter rolled his eyes.

“Fucking  _ Parker Luck _ , dude.” Was all he said, letting his head roll off of MJ’s shoulder and let it fall on the table with a dull  _ thunk _ . 

“You’re so dramatic Parker, it’s just for what? The rest of the semester? That’s only like, three weeks. You’ll live.” MJ finally said, her straight-forward reasoning doing nothing to make Peter feel better. 

Ned nodded, “yeah! Then two weeks of Christmas vacation!” He added excitedly. Peter cracked a small smile. “I guess you’re right.” 

“I’m  _ always  _ right.” MJ said matter-of-factly. 

“Wow, the  _ Mona Lisa  _ finally speaks.” Peter turned his head slightly. Flash stood behind them, a proud smirk on his face. “Do you even know what  _ Mona Lisa  _ represents,  _ Eugene _ ?” She shot back, her voice earning a sharp bite toward the taller boy. 

“Of course I do,  _ Michelle _ . I’ve seen it in person, you know.” Flash boasted smugly. 

“Oh, my bad Eugene, if I’d known that you could gain knowledge from just looking at an object, then I could’ve sworn you weren't the  _ first alternate _ in Decathlon.” 

MJ didn’t look up, but Peter saw her smirk when Flash suddenly became quiet; turning on his heel and storming away, a red flush steadily climbing up the bully’s neck. 

Ned reached over and high-fived MJ, and Peter turned back to look at Flash’s table, where he saw Harley Keener watching them as well. Keener’s face twisted into a bitter scowl. 

Heat rose through Peter’s body, embarrassed that he’d been caught, Peter hastily turned back around and faced Ned. He gave Peter an odd look but quickly resumed eating his sandwich when Peter shrugged noncommittally.

MJ munched on an apple as she turned back to her book she’d been reading, pausing suddenly. “You two should just fuck and get it over with.” She stated nonchalantly. Peter and Ned both choked. “ _ What?”  _

“You and Keener, dumbass. The sexual tension is nearly suffocating sometimes.” She answered with a sarcastic roll of her eyes, and her tone spoke like it was the most obvious thing in the world. 

Peter stared at her. “Sexual tension? No no no, he  _ hates  _ me MJ.” He hissed. She gave him a  _ duh _ look. “Uh… yeah?”

Ned stared at her like she’d grown three heads. “ _ Where  _ did you ever get that idea?” She grinned, a shark-like expression that always made Peter nervous. “Well—“ 

She was cut off by the bell ending the lunch period. swiftly standing, she slipped a bookmark into her book. “Guess you’ll never know,  _ loser _ .” She teased smugly, striding into the shuffling crowd, quickly assimilating into it and out of sight.

Ned and Peter shot each other nervous looks as they pushed their way through the crowd toward their next classes. Ned broke away and turned down a separate hallway, leaving Peter to make his way toward his next class on his own. 

  
  



End file.
